


Start Again

by Leni



Series: The Kindness of Strangers [7]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 20:50:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8260121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: Emma Swan has arrived. Rumpelstiltskin is ready to go home.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rumbelle_af](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rumbelle_af/gifts).



> Written for simplythedarkone, Prompt: bedtime

For the longest moment, Rumpelstiltskin felt like a stranger in his own home.

He hadn't been expected, of course. Mr. Gold ran several businesses that consumed his time, and his wife knew better than most about all the nights he spent in the back room of his pawnshop. At this time of the day, he was supposed to be deep in his accounting books, deliberating which unfortunate person needed to be reminded in person about the cleverness of punctual payments.

Work always came first. Money was the one thing that kept their lives comfortable. Lily had known that when she married him. 

No wonder she was staring at him now, blue eyes wide with questions. Her husband wasn't supposed to stand in his own living room, at not even seven at night, keys dangling from his hand as he glanced hungrily at the scene before him.

She couldn't know about a woman that had arrived the night before, bringing into town the Mayor's son and, unknowingly, the key to all their futures.

Emma Swan.

Mr. Gold had exchanged a few words with her, and Rumpelstiltskin had wished her a good night. For a few hours, he had tried to tell himself not to make waves, to keep his facade untouched. But he _remembered_. In the end, it had been impossible to wait a minute past closing time to return home.

"Hello," he said softly now, pocketing his keys and making a slow advance into the room, the taps of his cane against the hardwood floor the loudest noise to be heard.

His wife gave a slow blink, brow furrowed in confusion. At her side, their older son followed her example, following his movements with bewilderment. "Daddy?" he asked with the brutal honesty of children, "what are you doing here?"

Rumpelstiltskin snorted. "I was hoping for dinner." He turned to Belle - to Lily - to his wife. "I hope I'm on time?"

Her eyes narrowed, but she nodded.

He smiled at her, hoping to put her at ease. "Good." 

Mr. and Mrs. Gold had an easy relationship. She devoted her time to raising their children, and he made sure to pay all the bills. Their marriage could be easily mistaken for a business deal, and if asked, both partners would say it wasn't that much of a mistake.

In other circumstances, Rumpelstiltskin might have maintained the cold arrangement for a few more months. Belle would have understood. She had _told_ him to do what was necessary. To avoid the Evil Queen's notice for as long as he could. They hadn't known how the curse would affect their family, except that Regina was bound to keep them together, but Belle would be the first to tell him that the Queen was not stupid, that every deviation from the role Regina had assigned to him was a risk.

Rumpelstiltskin had tried to be sensible. After meeting Snow White's daughter, he had hurried back to the pawnshop and all but holed himself there, reminding himself of all the reasons he couldn't speed to this ridiculously pink house, sweep his wife into his arms, and hug his children. He had only come home long after midnight, secure in the fact that they would be asleep, and then spent the rest of the night in fitful sleep on the couch. In the morning, he had fled as soon as he'd heard Belle rise upstairs.

If he so much as heard his children's voices, he would have run to meet them and never left.

No. He couldn't do that every day. It would kill him to avoid the woman and the boys he loved so much for however many weeks it took the Savior to do her work. He had not crossed worlds in search of his oldest boy, just to drift away from the rest of his family in the process.

He would deal with Regina, should she pay too much attention to the change in his routine. And, just to stack the cards in his favor, he wasn't above pulling one or two tricks, in order to keep her distracted away from his affairs.

In the Enchanted Forest, he had been forced to follow a careful script, always aware that his former student held the upper hand as soon as she realized how slim his control really was. But in this world without magic, he and Regina were again on an even field.

That meant that facing her displeasure was a risk he could brave.

And doing what was necessary to come home to his children had always been a challenge he was willing to take.

"Is everything okay?" Belle asked, peering at him with a hint of worry. "You're not coming down with something, are you?"

Then her frown deepened, because nothing but being bedridden had kept Mr. Gold from his work.

"I'm in perfect health, my dear," Rumpelstiltskin told her. "Just decided to get a warm, home cooked meal tonight; and maybe later I'll check that this rascal goes to bed when he's supposed to, and doesn't wake his brother in the process."

Brown eyes - much like his - widened at that. 

Then his boy scooted closer to his mother, hiding his face against her arm.

Belle regarded Rumpelstiltskin, a hand petting their son's head, obviously trying to make sense of his announcement. "You wanna put the boys to bed?" He couldn't blame her for the incredulity in her voice. Mr. Gold was an exceptional provider, and he went out of his way not to show his family any of the cruelty the rest of the town saw in him. To the extreme that he rarely crossed ways with them at all. "Why?"

Rumpelstiltskin tightened his grasp on the cane so as not to sink to his knees and beg her to remember. In a different world, he hadn't missed anything of importance in their children's lives - or many of the everyday moments either. Belle had never doubted his willingness, or questioned that he'd be there the next day as well. "Well, sweetheart," he said, tilting his lips into a smirk, "you can't monopolize them for life, can you?"

Her spine straightened at that.

"I mean," he rushed in, before she could take offense instead of laughing at the silly statement as he'd intended. Lily Gold had no sense of humor, it seemed, "you can take the time to run yourself a bath. Read that book you've been trying to finish since last week?"

At least something had remained the same. Wife and mother she might have become, but Belle had never missed a chance to sequester herself with a favorite story.

Rumpelstiltskin had often found himself happily juggling diapers and soldier toys, in an effort to keep the boys clean and distracted while their mother took a well deserved break.

She eyed him carefully. "You don't mind?"

"Of course not."

His words must have sounded sincere because, with a few nudges, she encouraged their son out of hiding. "And you swear to me you're all right?"

Rumpelstiltskin nodded.

Even cursed, his wife worried about him. His children didn't know him here, but the Savior had arrived and that meant that the memories he made from now on would be the ones that counted.

And at last, he walked in the same world as the whole of his family, after centuries of loneliness.

"Oh, sweetheart," he said feelingly, "I don't think I've ever felt better in this life."

 

The End  
10/10/16

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always welcome!


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